Your First Three Clients: Where to Find Them and How to Serve Them
- Akino Davis
- Oct 12
- 8 min read
This Newsletter is brought to you by:
Becoming An Entrepreneur™: The Professional’s Guide to Monetizing Expertise,
your step-by-step blueprint to turn your skills into a real business without quitting your job.
Last week, we explored From Résumé to Revenue: How to Package Your Expertise into a 30-Day Outcome-Based Offer, a deep dive into turning your career experience into something sellable and structured.
This week, we’re continuing that thread, moving from building the offer to putting it in motion. Because an offer, no matter how good, means little until it’s in the hands of real clients.
Here’s a fact most new entrepreneurs won’t admit: your first three clients won’t come from a fancy website or a perfect ad funnel. They’ll come from your circle of credibility, the network that already trusts you. And how you serve those first three will determine how fast your business grows.
The Real Fear Behind Your First Three Clients
Every new entrepreneur faces the same quiet fear: “What if no one buys?”
You’ve done the work; years of professional experience, deep skills, maybe even an MBA or certification but selling yourself feels… different. Vulnerable.
It’s not a lack of competence holding you back. It’s uncertainty. You’re not sure how to approach people, what to say, or how to price your expertise.
When I launched SME Digital, I remember overthinking everything; from my first post to my pricing. When I build one, I kept tweaking my website while avoiding the real task: talking to people. I thought if I made my message perfect, clients would appear. Spoiler: they didn’t.
What turned things around wasn’t another marketing strategy. It was connection. When I started having direct, honest conversations, with people who already knew me from my professional network, things changed.
My first three clients came from those conversations. They weren’t random strangers on LinkedIn; they were colleagues, partners, and professionals I’d crossed paths with in my construction and operations management years. I wasn’t selling, I was solving problems I understood deeply.
Why Most Professionals Struggle to Find Their First Three Clients
Because they start in the wrong place.
Here’s what most do instead:
They start with social media. They post content, wait for engagement, and hope it leads somewhere.
They spend months on a website. They tinker with colors, copy, and calls-to-action before having a single sales conversation.
They launch too broadly. They try to serve everyone, hoping someone will resonate.
They undercharge or overexplain. They make it complicated and confusion never converts.
These approaches don’t fail because they’re bad ideas; they fail because they skip the foundation:
Proof, Purpose, and Positioning.
Proof builds confidence. Purpose clarifies who you serve and why. Positioning shows where your value fits in the market.
If you’re reading this, your first goal isn’t to get 100 clients; it’s to get three, serve them exceptionally well, and document the results. That’s your first business model test.
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Your First Three Clients: Where to Find Them
Your first three clients are closer than you think. They’re not “out there” — they’re in your existing network.
Here’s where to start looking:
1. Your Professional Past
Think of people you’ve worked with, reported to, or supported. Those who respect your judgment and know your work ethic. These people already trust your competence. Reach out personally, not as a pitch, but as an update:
“Hey [Name], I’ve been working on something new: helping [professionals like you] go from [pain] to [result]. I’m running a small pilot right now and would love your feedback. Can I share the details?”
That’s how I found my first client, a contact from my operations management days. She needed help organizing her business systems. One conversation turned into a 30-day project, which later became a testimonial I could show others.
2. Your Peers and Professional Networks
Professional associations, alumni groups, and LinkedIn connections are gold mines. Commenting thoughtfully on posts or sharing insights from your field can trigger conversations naturally.
A quick story: one of my early SME Digital clients came through a LinkedIn comment. I wasn’t promoting; I was answering a question about business strategy. The person DM’d me to ask for a session.
Sometimes your expertise just needs a doorway.
3. Your Circle of Trust
Sometimes, your first clients will come through referrals from close friends or colleagues who believe in your new direction. Tell them clearly what you do and who you help. Give them a simple one-liner:
“I help professionals turn their expertise into a profitable offer in 30 days.”
When people can explain you in one sentence, referrals happen naturally.
How to Serve Your First Three Clients
Once you have them, the goal is simple: serve them like proof depends on it because it does. Each of your first three clients isn’t just a customer; they’re a case study in disguise.
Here’s how to turn those early projects into momentum:
1. Start small, deliver big
Keep your first project contained. 30 days is ideal. Overdeliver in clarity, not scope. Create measurable milestones, even if they’re simple. Example:
Week 1: Define offer and audience.
Week 2: Build one-page plan.
Week 3: Implement the system.
Week 4: Review and measure results.
When clients can see progress, trust compounds.
2. Collect proof, not praise
Ask for specific feedback:
What changed since we started?
What result felt most valuable?
What would you tell someone considering this?
Capture before-and-after screenshots, quotes, or tangible outcomes. Proof isn’t bragging; it’s confidence for the next conversation.
3. Simplify Your Delivery
Early on, you’ll be tempted to over-deliver to justify your price. Resist that urge. Focus on outcomes, not hours.
When I first created the Business Launch Coaching Program, it started as a 3-month Coaching Program. I thought no one would pay unless I packed in extra deliverables. But I learned fast that clients don’t want more work, they want clarity, confidence, and next steps.
Now the same framework powers the 1:1 Coaching Accelerator Workshop, a 4-hour private intensive workshop and clients consistently say it’s valuable because it’s structured, practical, and focused on results, not complexity.
4. Stay In Your Lane of Expertise
Don’t say yes to every opportunity that shows up. Early traction can be dangerous if it pulls you off track. Your goal is to build proof within a lane that matches your long-term direction.
Serving outside your purpose might bring cash, but it’ll blur your positioning. Stay specific. Proof grows faster in focus.
The Proof, Purpose & Positioning Framework for First Clients
Think of your first three clients as your business lab. You’re testing three things:
Proof: Can I deliver a clear result for this type of client?
Purpose: Does this work align with who I want to serve and the kind of problems I want to solve?
Positioning: How can I describe and package this work so it feels distinct and easy to buy?
Here’s the beauty: with just three projects, you’ll have everything you need to refine your business model: proof to show, purpose to fuel direction, and positioning to scale confidently.
When I finished my first three SME Digital clients, I had:
Three testimonials,
A repeatable 4-step process,
A signature 30-day outcome offer, and
The confidence to price based on results.
Those three clients were the foundation of everything that followed, including the Becoming An Entrepreneur Books and the Online Accelerator Course, which now helps professionals do the same, step by step.
How to Turn Your First Three Clients into a Business Model
Once you’ve served them, capture and codify the lessons.
Document your workflow: What worked? What dragged?
Identify repeatable assets: Templates, checklists, or scripts.
Track time and results to refine pricing.
Note what kind of client was easiest to help. That’s your ideal client profile (ICP).
Every bit of this becomes part of your real-world-tested business model.
By your fourth client, you’ll already have Proof in case studies, Purpose in clarity, and Positioning in language that converts.
Story From the Field
One of my early coaching clients, a corporate branding professional, came into the 1:1 Coaching Accelerator Workshop unsure how to start. We mapped her 30-day offer around a “Branding Audit” for businesses, something she’d been doing informally for years. Her first three clients came from her LinkedIn connections and one referral.
She delivered consistent results, documented her outcomes, and used her feedback to create a new Branding Advisory Service. By the third client, she had confidence, pricing, and a case study.
That’s how it works: you don’t need 100 clients. You need three real proofs that your expertise can deliver value outside employment.
Closing Thought
Your first three clients are not random. They are the foundation of your business story.
Find them where trust already exists, serve them with clarity and focus, and document every step as proof. That’s your first business model. That’s your first system.
Because once you’ve delivered results for three clients, with purpose, positioning, and proof, you’ll never have to wonder again if your expertise is valuable. You’ll know it.
If this article helped you, subscribe to the Becoming An Entrepreneur Newsletter at www.smedigital.biz/blog for weekly playbooks, real stories, and strategies on transitioning from a high-performing professional to a confident entrepreneur.
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